Get behind me, Santa!

Bloggers in Montreal all seem to be getting into the act of photographing Xmas decorations that are scary, hideous, enormous, or just overdone.

To join in the holiday spirit, I've added a couple of photos from the World Trade Centre near Victoria Square. Every day I am lucky enough to pass by an assortment of themed Santas. My co-workers tell me that these Santas appear every year near the beginning of December. My two favorites for the pure "whaaaaa?" factor are this Goth Santa and the previously posted Disco Santa. I'm sure both Santas know just how to take care of the naughty list.

These really need to be experienced in person rather than through my cell phone's puny little lens.

Disco Santa. . .one in a series

Remembrance Day

Today was Remembrance Day in Canada.

The Canadians could teach us Americans a thing or two about taking Veterans Day seriously.

For weeks now, the poppies have been, well, popping up on lapels everywhere. You see people wearing them on the street, in the Metro, at work, and on the TV newscasts. I was unaware of the extent of the participation in this tradition. It makes an impression on the recent arrival. Somehow it seems more thoughtful than a magnetic yellow ribbon slapped on the back of a gas-guzzling Hummer.

This year, there was a predictably huge outcry when some clueless Provigo grocery manager tossed out one of the elderly veterans who sells these. I vaguely remember poppy sales in the US, but I can't recall seeing any recently in the US.

The poppy's significance is related to the WWI era poem, In Flanders Fields, by John McCrae.

VIA Rail's 150th Anniversary

I took a ride on the train today from Montreal to Ottawa today courtesy of work. This is a picture of a wall relief decorating the Gare Centrale in Montreal.

On board the train, there was a letter on each seat from the President and CEO of VIA Rail Canada informing passengers that October 27 marked the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor.

In 1856, the first trains traveled between Montreal and Toronto. Today, there are more than 3.5 million passenger trips along the corridor ever year.

I thought I would be able to blog about this from the train since Wi-Fi is advertised as being available, however it turned out not to be working.

Cartographic instability

I have been thinking about buying a detailed street map of Montreal. I may, however, postpone this purchase due to the possibility that a major Montreal street near our apartment may soon have a new name.

The mayor of Montreal, Gérald Tremblay, has proposed that Avenue du Parc (Parc Avenue) be renamed Robert Bourassa Avenue to honor the former Quebec premier. Bourassa was Quebec's youngest premier and introduced Bill 22, which made French the sole official language of Quebec. Allegedly, Bourassa was once derided by Pierre Trudeau as a mangeur d'hot dog (a hot dog eater). I'm not sure what that was about, or even what it means.

Bourassa was defeated in 1976 by René Lévesque. Lévesque got his street in 1987, when Dorchester Boulevard was renamed.

The name change must still be approved by city council and the provincial government, although the announcement has already generated a web-based petition and protests from merchants along Parc. There is interesting commentary on this proposal here, here, and here.

Although the details may be different, I get the sense that Montreal has arguments about who controls public space and who gets honored in public space just as DC and other parts of the US do. In particular, I see similarities to the renaming of streets for Martin Luther King, Jr. and Cesar Chavez.

On a related note, my previous post had a photo of a statue in the center of Stanton Park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of DC. The park is named for Edwin Stanton, who was Secretary of War during the American Civil War and Reconstruction. When I first arrived on Capitol Hill, I assumed that the guy on horse must be Stanton. However, it's actually revolutionary war hero Nathanael Greene. I'm not sure if there was ever a dispute about resolving this naming discrepancy.

Goodbye DC, Salut Montreal

Sorry for not posting for a few days.

This past Friday night I flew back to DC where J. had been diligently overseeing the packing of our household effects. With the movers on their way, we loaded up the car, pointed the car north, and headed up to Montreal.

Driving to Montreal is much better than driving to Boston, mainly because you get off I-95 before hitting any of the NYC/CT madness.

We had pleasant weather on Saturday, stopped overnight in Lake George, NY, and drove the last couple of hours to the border on Sunday. At some point on Saturday, we passed through the line of peak Fall foliage.

At the border, we managed to satisfy Canadian Immigration and Customs with a variety of visas, letters, and other paperwork in English and French. The obligatory joke here is that the border guard was named "Douane."

So, here we are.

News Flash: Montreal a damp city

Before moving to Montreal, I did a little research on the average monthly temperatures, number of sunny days, precipitation, and other aspects of the weather. Montreal is generally about 4-5 degrees colder than Minneapolis, MN and gets more precipitation (snow) in the winter. See this nifty comparator.

For the month of October at the McGill weather station, climatic averages (1971-2000), were as follows:

Daily Average Temperature: 48.6 Fahrenheit
Precipitation: 3.3 inches
Days with Precipitation: 13.1
Bright sunshine: 39% of possible daylight hours

As of yesterday, we were through 58% of the month, but already had about 88% of the average October precipitation. Long story short, the weather has not been nice and my umbrella is not up to the task.

I hate to say it, but bring on the snow (if only for the novelty factor).

Not a square meal

When you are living on your own, sometimes your standards go down. As Exhibit A, I present tonight's dinner of gnocchi and meatballs.

Luckily J. is joining me this weekend.